Apparatus for treating hydrocarbons



May 31, 1932.

B. w. RUMBARGER APPARATUS FOR TREATTNG HYDROCARBONS Filed Feb. 16, 1928 4 Sheets$heet 1932- B. w. RUMBARGER' 60,598

APPARATUS FOR TREATING HYDROCARBONS Filed Feb. 16, 1928 4Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR May 31, 1932.

B. w. RUMBARGER I APPARATUS FOR TREATING HYDROGARBONS Filed Feb. 16, 1928 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR May 31, 1932. B. w. RUMBARGER APPARATUS FOR TREATING HYDROCARBONS Filed Feb. 16, 1928 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 g ikii III My UNITED STATES particularly to the'cracking of crude or other Patented May 31, 1932 WEST VIRGINIA PATENT QFFECE J 5mm w. RUM ARG B. DIE/MONROE, LOlTISIANA, 'AssIeNon mo IMPERIAL o e GAS rnonnc'rs COMPANY, or PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION or APPARATUSFOR TREATING HYnnooanBoNs Application filed. February 16,1928. ,Serial No. 254,782.

" 'My inventionrelates to a process and apparatus for: treating hydro-carbons, and more oils, shale, or other hydro-carbonaceous material, and the, production of the commercial product knownas carbon black or lamp black,

hereinafter called hydrocarbon black.

The formation-30f hydrocarbon black may i be either the principal object of'the method as practised byme, or merely incidental to the operation of-cracking crude oil orthe like. This for. the reason that my method of operations is such .that larger or smaller quantities of the crackedoil maybe utilized in the formation of hydrocarbon black, the remainder thereof being reduced to a liquid state, and gasoline, kerosene, naphtha, lubricating oil, etc. recovered therefrom by methods well-known in the oil-cracking inbon black.

dustry.- This is an important feature of my inventiombecause the portion of the cracked oil that is utilizedto form carbon black and theusual petroleum products can be varied at will, depending upon the; relative market values-as'hetween carbon black'and the other petroleumproducts.

. Heretofore the cost of producing carbon black has been controlled to ajconsiderable extent by the large amount of invested capi tal required for. buildings and equipment that are necessary to produce a given quantity of product. Another item of considerable cost is that of heat, owing to the ,factthat no means haveheretofore been provided for utilizing the heat generated by the burners that are commonlyemployed in the formation of car- It has heretofore been common practice to depend largely upon natural gas for the production of carbon black, but owing to the depletion of; natural deposits of gas in many localities and to the tendency toward legislative limitation up'on the use of natural gas in industry, it is important that a method be devised whereby hydrocarbon black may be produced with less consumption of gas.

One-object ormy: invention is 'to' provide ,meaiis itorcrackin-g oils and for utilizing the tha, lubricating oil, etc.

orproducts such as gasoline, kerosene, naph- Another object of my invention is to prov1de a means for greatly increasing the hydrocarbon black output of a plant of given size over that possible'bymethodsat present I employed.

A further object of myinvention is to .pro-

vide a means for producinghydrocarbon black without the use of naturalgas;

Another object is to provide a means and a method for utilizing the excess-heat of a hydrocarbon black plant, as by the production ofsteam.

' Another object of my invention is. to provide a means and a method for utilizingthe heat resulting from the productionof hydrocarbon black,'to crack oil.

Another object of myinvention is to utilize uncondensed vapors such as are commonly employed .toheat thestills in cracking plants to not only crack, the oil but to burn the vapors in such manner that hydrocarbon black will be produced.

Still another object of simplify and improve generally the methods and apparatus forthe productionof hydrocarbon black and the cracking of oils. i Oneform of apparatus for practising my invention is shown the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure l is a cross sec-j tional view of an installation for forming hydrocarbon blackand cracking oil; Fig.2

is a longitudinal sectional viewv of the apparatus of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a sectional elevational view, on. an enlarged scale, of a portion of-the apparatus of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional View taken on the line IVIV of Fig. 3; Fig. 5 isaplan view on an enlarged. scale of a portion ofthe ap- 'paratus of Fig. 2,,and Fig. 6 isa sectional View on a still further enlarged scale ofa portion of the apparatus of Fig. 5.

Referring more particularly to Fig. 1, I

show a building 10 which may be ofisomewhat the form employed in connection with plants for forming carbon black. These buildings are kept tight so as to maintain heat at say 800 F. and usually provided with ventilatorsll. Inthe drawings, I have my invention is to Y shown two carbon black forming units, 12 and 13, one extending along each side of the building. Since these units are substantial duplicates, it will be suflicient to describe but one of them. In each unit, I mount a series of boilers 14 for containing water from which steam is generated by the heat within the building, such heat being produced by burners as hereinafter described. The boilers 14 are provided. with water inlets 15 by means of which a desired water level is maintained within the boilers. The boilers are also provided with the usual steam domes 16 from which steam is led to super-heater tubes 17 where the steam is heated to a higher degree than at which it leaves the dome 16. Suitable valves 18 are provided for maintaining a desired back pressure within the boilers and for, preventing the passage of under considerable pressure.

While steam generated in the boilers 14 is herein more particularly described as being utilized in connection with the formation of hydrocarbon black, the heat that is taken up by the water and which is ordinarily wastedin hydrocarbon black plants can be utilized in generating steam for power plants,

etc., in WhlCll case the pipe 19 leading from the superheater coils would be directed to a place of consumption other than within the system described. This is an important feature, because heretofore the heat formed in the making of hydrocarbon black has been lost or wasted, which waste is the basis'of objections by the authorities in various districts and has resulted in laws limiting the amount of gas which may be used in hydrocarbon black plants.

Crude oil or other hydrocarbon liquid is supplied under pressure from a chamber 26, through apipe 27 and coils 27 a where it is preheated to a temperature of perhaps 600 F., by the heat within the building, or otherwise, thence through a pipe 28 to a header pipe 29 and through a series of pipe connections 31 to the vaporizing chambers at 25.

As shown more clearly in Fig. 6, each vaporizing chamber at 25 is provided with a spray nozzle 32 whose opening is controlled.

by a valve device 33. At the forward end of the spray nozzle 32, the hot oil while still under pressure, is ejected in the form of a spray which is commingled with the steam that enters the atomizer through the inlet pipe 34 that connects the header 24 with the spray chamber 25. The high temperature of the oil, together with the expansion thereof, results in quite complete atomization. The vapor-like mixture thusproduced, is passed through a series of cracking tubes 35, the cracking of the vaporized oil bein effected therein through the heat contain within the building. .From the cracking 1 tubes 35, the vapor passes into a header chamber 36, from which it passes through pipes 37 and'38 into separators 39. Each separator is provided with a bafile plate 41 and the vapor, entering through inlets 42, is directeddownwardly past such baflies and upwardly through outlet pipes 43 to a second separator chamber '44. The vapor expands upon entering the separators 39, and passage thereof around the lower edges of the bafiie plates 41 at low' velocities results inmore efi'ective precipitation of condensate and tarry products so that only the volatile substances will pass ofi' through the pipes 43, which pipes are of relatively'small diameter I. and contract the vaporous body. 'Precipitants are withdrawn through a conduit 45.

Any condensate remaining in the vapors is precipitated in the inclined drum 44 and will flow therefrom through a conduit 46 to one of the separators 39, and thence to the conduit 45. The volatile substances pass from the drum 44 through an outlet pipe 47 to a pipe 48 which has connection with the units 12 and 13. Vapor from the pipe 48 will ordinarily be passed through a ipe 48a to rectifyin towers (not shown) wiiere rectification 'Wlll be had to remove gasoline, kerosene, lubricating oil, etc. by well-known methods. Thereafter, the remaining gas, 106 which contains the valuableconstituents of ethane (C H in larger rcentages; propane (C511 butane (C, and perhaps some pentane (0 1 112), the latter-named gases not being theretofore present, will then be returned, as through a pipe 49 to be employed in forming carbon black and supplying cracking heat, as hereinafter described.

The vapor ma if desired, be passed directly from the pipe 48 downwardly through a pipe 49 and through laterally-extending pipes 51, to conduits 52 from which adesired quantity will be directed. upwardly through pipes 52a to burners 53, any remaining portions of the vapors being conducted through the pipes 52 to a point at which they will treated to produce gasoline, kerosene, lubricating oil, etc. after a manner wellknown in the oil-cracking art.

- The burners 53 are dis osed beneath channel irons 55 that extend or substantially the length of the building and are supported by trucks 56 which contain flanged wheels 57 that are carried on rails 58, the rails 58 being supported upon framework 59. A rack bar 61 (Fig. 2) is connected to the trucks and is oscillated by means of a pinion 62 which is driven in any suitable manner, as by a motor 60.

The rack bar 61 and the trucks are moved back and forth through movements of the pinions 62, alternately, in clockwise and counter-clockwise directions, so as to move the channel irons 55 back and forth over the flame, in a longitudinal direction and cause carbon black to accumulate thereon through partial combustion ofthe fuel at the burner tips, in the usual manner.

In order to remove the carbon black that accumulates on the lower faces of. the channel irons 55, I provide scrapers 62 that rest upon the upper edges of hoppers 63, the scrapers being loosely supported and having their upper edges held in contact with the channel irons through the weight of their downwardly-extending handle-like portions, as shown more clearly in Fig. 3. The carbon black thus scraped from the channels falls to the bottoms of the hoppers 63 and enters a cylindrical casing 6e that contains a screw conveyor for removing the carbon black thus precipitated.

Instead of employing steam as a carrier for the vaporized oil, I may employ natural gasor the like which is supplied under pressure from a line 66, the change being effected by closing a valve 67 in the line 22 and opening a valve 68 in the line 66. Gas from the line 66 will thereupon flow upwardly through,

the pipe 23 to the chamber 24, as in the case of steam heretofore referred to. Thereafter,

the gas will pass through the system along with the vaporized oil, in the manner described.

If the system is to be employed with steam as a carrier, and no gas is available to supply the burners 53,.the initial heat required to start cracking operations can be supplied 2 through the introduction of gasoline to the burners, a pipe 70 being provided for the purpose. After heat has been generated, the gasoline can be cut off and the gases of the 7 cracked oil utilized to supply the burners.

In-the case of steam, the H 0 vapor, and the hydrocarbon (which is the atomized oil), are transformed in the system to (C H or to carbon dioxide (CO carbonmonoxide, and some free oxygen.

As above indicated, there is disintegration, decomposition or disassociation of the hydrogen and carbon elements that enter into the composition of hydrocarbon oils of the paraffin series, and the re-arran-gement of the hydrogen and carbon elements as fixed gases, along with fixed vapors of thelighter series, these being in the form of vapor and carried as a gas. 7

By way of explanation of the process, a gas containing 90% CH, (methane), 7% of C H (ethane), 2.5% nitrogen and 0.5% CO5 (carbon dioxide), is used asa carrier in the process; As this gas carries the oil which I has :been broken into a very fine mist. by

means of a high pressure nozzle or spray through a continuation of coils in the presence of the heat contained within a burner building of a carbon blackfactory, decomposition gradually takes place within the oil.

The hydrogen and carbonelements of which it is composed become disassociated through 7 this continuous application of heatv under pressure, the pressure being applied for a dual purpose, first to lessen the velocity of the oilin' the heated area and secondly to les- (natural gas under pressure with oil mist under an equlvalent pressure requires less heat toreach the same results as the same amount of both would require under atmospheric pressure, 1 e., cooking 1n a closed vessel known as pressure cookmg requires lessheat for the operation to obtain similar results in;

an open vessel), and thehydrogen and car- J bon' elements reassemble themselves, formi-n other groups of lower boiling points an higher'specific gravities. This reassembly of the groups and series has brought about a permanent change in theoil'used; -Former- 1y it probably consisted ofseries from C H (hexane) on. down tofC l-L (eicocane),

whereas the carrier gas now would show approximately 79%. of CH (methane) 14% (1 1-1 (ethane), 3% C 11,. (pro-pane), 2%

0 H 7 (butane) and- 1% C 11 .(pentane) along with numerous unsaturated members. C I-I (hexdecane) and closely allied h drocarbonshave been formed and separate during this process, and are drawn off under the. common name of tar. The saturated gas, which is the carrier, is now ready for conveyance to the places wherein its services are required. It will be noted that the gas as originally put in as a carrier has had other gases added thereto from thecracking of the oil, thus the nature ofthe original gas is entirely changed and yet all being fixed gases or vapors, with a strong intermingling of unsaturated members.

Only the lighter or more volatile gases or vapors need be drawn upon tosupply the I burners'53, for the purpose of maintaining the heat necessary to carry on the process and to produce carbon black. The greater the quantity of gases and vapors so consumed,

ployed simply toheat the oil stills, whereas I not only utilize the heat thereof to crack the oil, but form carbon black therefrom, thus combining in a single cycle of operations the 330 cracking of crude oil and the formation of carbon black, instead of maintaining a separate heating plant for each of these industries.

Theterm gaseous as employed in the claims is used in its broadsense to include natural gas, steam, or other gaseous medium which Willfunction as a carrier or which will assist in the formation of hydrocarbon 19 black when treated as above described.

In employing the term hydrocarbon herein, I do not wishto be understood as limiting myself to compositions containing only hydrogen and carbon in .their' pure form, but contemplate also the compounds wherein hydrogen and carbon are present in sufiicient percentage to perform the process herein described.

I claim as my invention Apparatus for producing carbon black,

comprising a' chamber, carbon black burners located in said chamber, a heating coil located in a lower portion of said chamber, a coil located in the upper portion of the chamber, means for directing a hydrocarbon liquid through the said coils, means for intermingling a gaseous medium with the liquid and atomizing the sameafter it leaves the first-named coil and before it enters the sec- '30 ond-named coil, and means for directing a portion of the mixture from the secondnamed coil to said burners in sufiicient quantity to maintain a temperature of not substantially less than 600 F. in'said chamber. In testimony whereof I, the said BRADLEY V. RUMBARGER, have hereunto set my hand.

BRADLEY W. RUMBARGER. 

